Fewer people killed in Weld County crashes in 2013, but seat belt disregard among young drivers troubling

A Colorado State Patrol officer investigates one of the cars involved in a fatal rollover in the summer of 2013 at the the intersection of Colo. 14 and Weld County Road 31, approximately one mile west of Ault.

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Fewer people in 2013 died in vehicle crashes on Weld County roads than in any of the past 10 years, but concerns continue to mount surrounding an uptick in vehicle occupants who died after not fastening their seat belts — especially among young men.

The number of people who died in 2013 as a result of injuries sustained in vehicle crashes dipped to 37, continuing a steady downward trend that has persisted for more than a decade, according to data from the Weld County Coroner’s Office.

In 2012, 41 people died in traffic crashes across the county. That number marked a slight jump from 38 in 2011, but it was still a far cry from the decade-high of 92 people who died in crashes in 2004.

While the number of motorcycle fatalities fell from 11 in 2012 to five in 2013, the number of people in a vehicle who died after not buckling up climbed by at least three cases and accounted for 16 fatalities in 2013, as opposed to 11 who died despite fastening their seat belt.

“What we’re finding more and more, especially in rural areas, is the people who are causing accidents are young men who are not buckled up,” said Amy Ford, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation. “What we have been trying to do is target the messages and target the outreach to that audience.”

Twelve of the fatalities involved people younger than 30 years old, records show. Of those, seven were men who were not wearing their seat belt, and just one was a female who was not wearing a seat belt.

Among the rest of the data, seat belt use was undetermined in three of the cases, and the remaining two fatalities were pedestrians. One of the people who died in 2013 succumbed to injuries stemming from a 2008 crash.

Ford chalked up the continued downward trend in Weld road fatalities to better vehicle technology, proactive infrastructure improvements and increased enforcement efforts coupled with an added push toward community education — something she said is expected to continue in an effort to drop that number even more.

CDOT last year launched a handful of new projects within law enforcement groups around the state in counties with population centers blended with rural roads — counties like Weld.

For the first time, police agencies were put on heightened alert for men in their 20s and 30s who were traveling without a seat belt, marking increased importance for the Click It or Ticket campaign.

Data was not immediately available about the successes of the campaign’s first year, but Ford said it coincided with other programs aimed at reducing the number of crashes and traffic fatalities across the state.

In addition to enforcement, radio messages aired on stations young men were known to listen to, warning of the dangers of drunken driving — another area that appears to be trending downward, Ford said.

And in one of the more publicized outreach efforts, agencies installed talking urinal cakes in watering hole bathrooms across the Front Range. When someone would head to the men’s room, an Interactive Urinal Communicator would play a short audio message advising bar patrons not to drive and instead find a different way home.

While projects like that were utilized to reduce instances of DUI in areas like Denver and Fort Collins, Ford said a similar effort is needed to curb persistent problems like distracted driving — including text messaging or tinkering with the radio — as well as an indifference to seat belts.

“That’s the shift we’re talking about,” she said, adding the plans for 2014 follow a similar approach. “That’s an example of outreach.”

In a county like Weld where the population has ballooned during the past 10 years and the energy industry continues to put bulky oil and gas trucks on sometimes slender roadways, it seems intuitive to think the number of fatal traffic crashes would surge to frightening levels.

But that’s not been the case.

Traffic planners and engineers continued to evaluate certain intersections where repeated crashes have happened over the years, like at Colo. 14 and Weld County Road 31, where two people were killed in a spring-time collision in addition to other wrecks in years past. Among other stretches of roads that are being reviewed and where dirt is beginning to move in an effort to increase safety are stretches along Weld County roads 44 and 49.

But a large number of fatal vehicle crashes in 2013 occurred along rural stretches of highways and often involved a single vehicle flipping.

That’s what happened in the wreck near the Wyoming border that claimed three lives as a result of a driver whose vehicle careened off the highway and rolled after failing to negotiate a bend along U.S. 85.

Those are the most common types of crashes in Weld County, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Nate Reid said.

That’s to be expected in rural areas, but that doesn’t mean communities can’t reap the rewards from additional driver education and public awareness campaigns.

That, he said, is where local enforcement and education plays a critical role.

Through the Greeley Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit, a team of six officers in addition to Sgt. Fred Meyer directs patrols toward areas known to have problems with people partaking in risky driving behavior.

Meyer said the special unit continues to put a high value on prevention in the areas that need it.

“When we see something percolating, we try to get some resources to that,” he said.

In coordination with DRIVE SMART Weld County — a nonprofit coalition that reaches out to residents and advocates safe driving practices — the Greeley traffic unit is crafting plans to get more involved in neighborhood meetings as well as a potential partnership and advocacy project within the University of Northern Colorado.

He said that’s what it’s going to take to keep the downward trend progressing.

All of the best enforcement and roadway improvements can help a situation, but he remains realistic when it comes to the future.

He knows the county will probably never see a year with zero vehicle fatalities. But there’s a lot of room for improvement through education and outreach.

And that, he said, boils down to something as simple as advocating that everyone buckles up.

“People make a conscious choice to roll the dice when they decide not to wear that seat belt.”